Sunday, May 31, 2020

The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze

The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze
By Rick Riordan
Read in 8th Grade
*Read previous Rick Riordan Greek myth books for context

Book 3 in series

Apollo has saved Indianapolis from Emperor Commodus, and extracted a prophecy from the Dark Oracle. Being told to find a "cloven guide" to lead him through the maze to the next Oracle. Meg manages to summon Grover Underwood, satyr, the Lord of the Wild. They travel through the maze to his current shelter, where he is trying to solve the mysterious fires plaguing Southern California. The place is also Meg's former home. Her father came from a line of people trying to recreate the ancient Meliai, supposedly superpowerful dryads created from the blood of the Earth. Because of this Caligula, the next emperor they will face, destroyed his home. He wants to be the new Apollo, and he is trying to capture Apollo. The fires in California have been caused by the remains of the forgotten Sun Titan Helios, who is needed to turn Caligula into the Sun God. Apollo and his friends seek out Piper and Jason, who have apparently explored the maze. However, Jason hid something, and it separated him from Piper. After a close call with Medea in the maze, they go to him for help. He relents, telling them Caligula is traveling on a yacht, and that he didn't mention it because the Sibyl (who he found, by the way) told him either he or Piper would die if they took Caligula. Yet they enter his ship anyway, get caught, and Jason dies bravely to let his friends go free. At the center of the maze, he is keeping the Sibyl of Erythraea, who speaks prophecy as crosswords. To free her, they need Caligula's shoes to navigate the maze, which they got from the ship. A prophecy unfolds as they travel the maze, "Apollo faces death in Tarquin's tomb unless the silent god's doorway is opened by a daughter of Bellona". When they reach the center, they do indeed find the Sibyl, but also Medea, who attempts to flay Apollo's divine essence out of him. But thanks to the help of a former enemy, she is killed, Helios released, and Apollo saved. According to the prophecy, they now need to head to New Rome to find Reyna, the daughter of Bellona...

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